Raise your hand if your family’s screen time has gone up since mid-March? No shame mamas! This past spring, everything turned virtual–school, birthday parties, playdates, and your yoga class. Screen time became an essential part of everyone’s day. And while essential, I still feel guilty about the amount of time my kids (and myself honestly) are spending on the internet.
I heard many people talk about how bored they were during the stay-at-home orders or how they had nothing to do. I can only assume they were not parents. My life has never been more hectic, and the routine that we had flew out the window. Work time seemed to never end. There was always another suggested school assignment. And sometimes, I needed the kids to stop bickering, so tablet time here we go! Our family time was higher in quantity, but not quality.
I needed some serious help in finding balance in our new life.
Xfinity xFi lets you manage your home WiFi network with features like Pause and Parental Controls from a digital dashboard on your phone. I needed these boundaries more than my kids who are still pretty young, but I know these features help you avoid the screentime struggles with preteens and teenagers as well.
With xFi, parents can monitor when and how long their kids are online. You can use the xFi screen time scheduling tool to help you craft a realistic schedule for your family (minus all the color coding!) And yes schedules are a total lifesaver, but I think we can all agree that right now we need a little flexibility as well. So xFi allows parents to easily adjust screen time rules to allow for that impromptu Zoom playdate or mid-week movie break.
Our new at-home routine thanks to xFi includes mid-morning neighborhood walks and sit down family lunches. Finally after 3+ months, I’m starting to feel like I have some sense of normalcy. Yes, we are using screens more than we did before, but we have found a happy middle that’s working for us.
